Safety door latch for vehicles



March 18, 1952 E. HODALY SAFETY DOOR LATCH FOR VEHICLES Filed Sept 14,1949 3nvento1: fmeric/r lvodaiy d Gttomeg Patented Mar. 18, 1952 UNITEDSTATES?" PATENT OFFICE 2,539,809 SAFETY no'on La'rcn F01: VEHICLESEmerick Hodalfl-Dtroit, Mich. Application September'14, 1949, Serial No.115,604

This invention relates to door latches and particularly latches forvehicle doors.

In numerous instances, children have been killed or injured, due totheir unlatching doors-:.-'- of moving vehicles, and it is, moreover,desirable occasionally to prevent opening of such doors by adultpassengers.

An object of the invention is to adapt the interior handle of a vehicledoor latch to be readily released, when desired, from its operatingstem,- and to thereby prevent effective use of the handle" whileavoiding removal of the latter from the stem.

Another object is to adapt interior handles of door latches alreadyinstalled on vehicles to be quite simply modified for safeguarding suchlatches in accordance with my invention.

These and various other objects are attained by the constructionhereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary elevational edge view of a vehicle door equippedwith my improved latch.

Fig. 2 is an interior view of said door and its latch.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view of the same taken on the line 33 ofFig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the latch taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

In these views, the reference character I designates a motor vehicledoor equipped with a latch generally designated at 2. The latch bolt 2ais actuable through any ordinary mechanism (not shown) by a rockablestem 3 equipped with a handle 4 interiorly of the vehicle. Said stem hasa squared or other polygonal end portion which in usual practice fits acorrespondingly shaped opening in the handle. In applying my invention,said squared end portion fits in a correspondingly shaped socket 5extended centrally into an elongated handle mounting 6 from its innerend, such mounting being thus adapted to rotate the stem. Withdrawal ofthe mounting from thestem is permanently prevented by a pin 7, set intosaid parts transversely thereof. The mounting has a cylindrical exteriorform and is slip-fittedv in a hub 8 of the handle. To adapt the handleto drive the mounting a pin 9, transverse to the common axis of hub andmounting, remotely engages these parts, said pin having a ball head 9a,facilitating its removal. The handle cannot escape from the mountingeven whenfthe pin 9 is removed, being held in place by a head Illterminally formed on the 2 Claims. (Cl. 292352) 'l.n 1ou11ting.Preferably a Washer II is carried by the mounting to space the handleslightly from the door or from upholstery l2 interiorly applied to thedoor. 5 I When the pin 9 is in place, the latch may obviously beoperated by the handle, the mounting Sforming a drive connection. Tosafeguard the ;latch against operation by children or others. itisnecessary merely to remove said pin, whereupon the handle is freelyrotatable on the mountmg. 'IAvoidance of complete removal of the handlein rendering the latch temporarily inoperative, highly desirable, sincethe handle is much more bulky than the pin 9 and cannot be soconvenieritly pocketed or otherwise stored. Also, in case 'of;loss, itis far less expensive'to replace the v ,pinthan the handle. Thedescribed construction lends itself, at low cost, either to an originallatch installation or adaptation to a latch a1- ready installed. In thelatter case, the original handle may ordinarily serve my purpose, bydrilling its hub end to fit the mounting 6.

What I claim is: 1. A latch construction for vehicle doors comprising alatch-operating stem, a handle having its hub formed with asubstantially cylindrical opening extending from side to side of suchhub; a mounting for said handle" carried by the stern and having anexteriorly cylindrical port'onslip-fitted in said opening, a pinsecuring e" mounting on the stem, and a'pin normally H establishing adrive from the handle to the dunting and removable to afiord freerotation he handle on the mounting, said mounting having a terminal headretaining the handle on .jj'1the mounting when said removable pin isrelmoved.

2. A latch construction as set forth in claim 1, said stem having apolygonal cross section and "said mounting having an opening receivingand corresponding in cross section to the stem.

EMERICK HODALY.

REFERENCES CITED fliihe following references are of record in thefil'etb'f this patent:

- UNITED STATES PATENTS

